HONOLULU –Attorney General Doug Chin announced that Courtney Young, a licensed certified nurse’s aide employed at Beckwith Hillside Care Home, pleaded no contest today to endangering the welfare of an incompetent person.

Young’s victim was a 93-year old woman who lived in the care home, which is owned by Young’s mother. Another certified nurse’s aide saw Young slap the victim at the care home. The other nurse’s aide immediately went over to assist the victim, who suffers from dementia and is wheelchair bound.

Attorney General Chin said, “This case involved the abuse of someone who was incredibly vulnerable. This type of egregious behavior will be prosecuted swiftly by my office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.”

The misdemeanor offense is punishable by up to one year in prison. Over objection by the State, Young was granted a deferral by Honolulu district court Judge Naunanikinau Kamalii and ordered to pay the maximum $2,000 fine. The deputy Attorney General prosecuting the case asked the court to ban Young from patient care for a year. The court’s sentence included a thirty-day ban.